Protesters gather outside Bush library ceremony

About 50 protesters have gathered amid a heavy police presence as thousands make their way to the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

The protests were restricted Thursday morning to a zone cordoned off by barricades and separated from the center by a highway.

About 30 protesters are wearing black while holding signs exclaiming, “Crimes against humanity” and “Does America have a conscience?” Other signs list the names of soldiers and others who died in wars launched by the Bush administration.

Coleen Rowley of Apple Valley, Minn., is wearing an orange jumpsuit and yelling “Close Guantanamo,” a reference to the U.S. detention facility for suspected insurgents. She directed her comments to some of the 10,000 people heading to the campus of Southern Methodist University for the dedication.